In the eighteenth century, Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay. Europeans (primarily British) began to settle Australia and they treated the Aborigines as pests, driving them from their traditional lands into the harsh interior. They poisoned Aboriginal water sources and brought diseases such as smallpox which devasted the natives. Many tribes were wiped out. The British regarded Australia as terra nullius and did not recognise any Aborginal right to land ownership.

In 1951, the Australian government attempted to destroy any sense of a separate ethnic identity among the Aboriginal people by instigating a policy of assimilation. Many Aboriginal children were brought up by white adoptive parents.

In 1967 Aborigines finally received the right to vote and in 1976 they were able to reclaim some land. In 1992 the principle of terra nullius was overturned and more land rights granted. In 1999, the government issued an official statement of regret for the mistreatment of the Aborigines over the years. In the Sydney Olympics the following year, Cathy Freeman an aboriginal athlete lit the Olympic flame.

Things are improving for the Aboriginals of Australia but there is some way to go before their standard of living matches that of the white Australians. Their life expectancy is still 20 years less than the national average.